A well-know Vryheid farm manager (46) was arrested for rape after a teenage girl came forward with allegations that he had raped her on repeated occasions for weeks.
The man, whose identity is known to the Vryheid Herald, told the court that he intended to plead “not guilty” to the charges during his bail application on Monday.
While he admitted to having had sexual intercourse with the 16-year-old girl, he claimed that the affair was consensual.
In an affidavit read to the court by attorney, BM Thusini, the farm manager described how his relationship with the teen began when she and her grandmother were boarding at his farm house, and developed when she started to confide in him about family and school problems, when he would give her a lift to school.
“It was this exercise that brought us closer,” he said, describing how he had helped the teen with her homework every afternoon.
The farm manager claimed that he and the teen were so in love that they had made plans to be married, and had even informed his three sons of his intentions.
“On December 1, I went to (the grandmother) with a proposal to marry (the teen) and she (the grandmother) blew her top and said that would only happen over her dead body,” claimed the farm manager, who declared that the teen’s grandmother was now pressuring her granddaughter to say that he had raped her.
“When I was arrested six police vehicles came to my place of residence and I was arrested FBI style,” he complained.
The state was not opposed to bail being granted as the teen and her grandmother had approached the court saying that they did not believe the farm manager posed any further threat to them, and urged that he be granted bail on two conditions.
Firstly, that he agree not to interfere with the teen or any member of her family, and, secondly, that he return all the possessions the teen and her grandmother left on his property.
The farm manager pleaded with the court to consider the fact that he had three children, one of whom was going to study at tertiary level next year, and that he is the bread-winner of the family.
While a report from the investigating officer did indicate that a medical examination concluded that rape had occurred, the prosecutor did not feel that the farm manager was flight risk and bail was set at R3 000.
The case was postponed to January 16.
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